Entrepreneurship will be strength of Indian economy: Jaitley (Lead)

New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said entrepreneurship is going to be a strength of the Indian economy as jobs in the public as well as organised private sectors are not enough for the country’s huge working population.

“The strength of the Indian economy is going to be entrepreneurship. There is relevance of both skilling and entrepreneurship in India. In the government, both at Centre and the states, as also public sector enterprises, there is limited capacity of job creation,” Jaitley said.

He was speaking at the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017 event held on the occasion of the third foundation day of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

“In private organised sector, there is a larger capacity for job creation. But even if the two (public and private sectors) are taken together, the jobs are not adequate to service the population,” he said.

On the skilling front, Jaitley said there was need to “chisel” the large human resource and train them for jobs because as the Indian economy expands the requirement for skilled workforce will be large.

The Finance Minister said while in developed countries where the population was stabilising or reducing, it was not the case in India.

“In developed countries, they have difficulty in finding human resource to service their economy. But not so in India. We have more large population and more younger population, that is, more working hands,” he said.

He added India had enough young population to service not only in the country but also in other countries which has resulted in a large Indian diaspora.

“We have to use the excess population for economic benefits. How do we link it with jobs because (educational) degrees do not have nexus with the kind of vocation. Thus, areas of skilling are huge… so that it gets related to certain trades,” he said.

Jaitley noted the economy was changing and with it the country would need specialised and skilled people. While earlier the self-trained did not get social sanction, now those who had certified trainings were moving ahead in the social and economic ladder, he added.

Recounting the benefits of entrepreneurship, he said once the youth moves out of the prohibitions and restrictive framework of job, he can create new ideas for himself.

“It is the survival of the fittest. Whoever comes out with the best entrepreneurial idea, he will be successful,” he added.

Minister for Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan, who was also present at the function, said that by 2022, India’s workforce will reach about 60 crore.

Emphasising on the role of the working population in creating growth for the country, Pradhan said that in order to take Indian’s GDP to double digits, the country’s youth can play an important role.

He said that there is no alternative to skilling for India’s youth.

In order to promote entrepreneurship, the government has already given Rs 4 lakh crore in Mudra Yojana, of which 3 crore people are new beneficiaries, he said.